Treating natural and artificial fibers



Patented Oct. 30, 1934 PATENT OFFICE TREATING NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FIBERS Aleidus G. Bouhuys, Enka, N. 0., assignor to American Enka Corporation, Enka, N. 0., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Original application July '1, '1933,

Serial No. 678,728. Divided and this application March 23, 1934, Serial No. 717,114

8 Claims.

This application is a division of my application Serial #678,728, filed July 1st, 1933. The present invention relates to lubrication and protection of yarns, threads, filaments, textile 5 fibres or the like consisting wholly or partially of natural or artificial materials.

After the yarn, thread, or filament has been 'spun or formed and the'final'product finished, it is subjected to considerable physical wear during the various knitting, weaving, braiding,

winding, and other textile treatments or opera- ,tions which it must, undergo. Thus, before going intov various processes such as weaving; knitting, braiding, winding, or coning, the yarns, threads,

or filaments are often previously treated for their protection with oily treating-liquids which form a protective film over their surface and which have some lubricatingproperties. So treating the yarn, threads, or filaments tends to prevent damage to them during the operations mentioned, during which operations the yarn, threads, or filaments are usually exposed to comparatively high tensions. For economic reasons, such an oil treatment of the yarn, thread, or filament is made while they are :in the dry state and during the winding operations .of the original yarn package.

Coning and winding oils heretofore described have the defects that yarns, threads, or filaments treated with such mixtures require either a thorough scouring before the yarn, thread, or filament is dyed, or the inclusion in the oil of such a large amount, (at least over 25%), of sulfonic acid salts of mineral oils or other known emulsifying agents as to reduce the lubricating properties of the oil to such an extent that it is impracticable for commercial use.

Among the objects of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method and composition of the character described above for lubricating and protecting yarn, thread, and filaments, and an improvedprotected and lubricated product.

' An improvement of the compositions of the present invention over known compositions consists in that, by the admixture of a suitable combination of alkali metal and organic base soaps hereinafter described with mineral-oil sulfonic acid salts, and mineral oil, a coming oil and/or winding oil with much higher lubricating properties is obtained than has heretofore been possi-" ble, and in which any detrimental and undesirable' features which might be attributed to the presence of suoh'fiaps or of a small amount of free oleic acid can be readily overcome by the addition of a suitable antioxidizing agent such as diphenylamine, resorcinol, phenol, or hydroquinone.

Among the further objects of the invention is the provision of a method which comprises protecting and lubricating fabric, yarn, thread, filajments, or textile fibres, artificial as well as natural, during mechanical operations upon them fabrics, yarn, threads, or filaments such as viscose silk, cellulose acetate silk, cuprammonia and nitro silks and the like, or mixtures thereof, eliminating the heretofore necessary step of securing. According to the present invention the fabric, yarn, thread or filament is impregnated with or g has applied to it, in any suitable manner, a composition consisting essentially of a mixture of suitable mineral oil lubricant,.a suitable alkali metal soap-like emulsifying agent suchas the sodium or potassium soap of oleic acid, trieth- 30 anolamine soap of oleic acid, and mahogany sulfonates or mineral oil sulfonates such as may be obtained by treating crude mineral oil stocks or naphthas with concentrated or fuming sulfuric acid and reacting upon the obtained sulfonic g5 acids with an alkali metal hydroxide such as sodium hydroxide. These mineral oil sulfonates or mahogany sulfonates are well known and therefore need no detailed description here. It is preferable, however, to employ purified sulfonates because of their lighter color and generally more acceptable operation. As sulfonates may also be used the alkali metal salts of the sulfonic acids obtained by allowing an excess of sulfuric acid to act upon an aromatic hydrocarbon, for example, naphthalene, or benzene, in the presence of oleic acid, such sulfonic acids being sometimes known as Twitchell reagent, and the term mineral oil sulfonate as used herein is used as including these reagents as well as true mahogany or mineral oilsulfonates.

A further part of the present invention consists in utilizing in the above described composition a free fatty acid, such as oleic acid, which is particularly useful to make the soaps used as described above dissolve completely and clearlythe probabilities being that the added free fatty acid counteracts hydrolysis of the soaps used. A still further part of the invention consists in adding to the mixture of mineral oil, soaps and. no

.soaps, which are as a rule diflicult to prepare in the form of a clear solution, and for this purpose the following solvents may be used; monoethylether of diethyleneglycol (carbitol), monobutylether of ethylene glycol (butyl cellosolve), monobutylether of diethyleneglycol (butyl carbitol), etc.

As mineral oil any acid free, clear, colorless, or slightly colored mineral lubricating oil may be used. A chemically inert and stable mineral lubricating or paraffin oil from seconds Saybolt viscosity (100 F.) up may be used. The viscosity of the oil may be even as high as 80 seconds Saybolt viscosity. However, a mineral oil with a viscosity between 30 and 70 Saybolt acts very satisfactorily. The so-called white oils, which are purified mineral lubricating oils, may be ad- .vantageously employed as the mineral oil.

The composition may be prepared by intimately mixing the various ingredients in the desired. proportions, and as examples of various compositions, ranges of proportions, and what are now believed to bepreferred proportions, the following are given; but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these specific examples:

Example 1 Ranges of proportions Preferred proportions Percent Mineral oil #30- Sodium salt of mineral, oil sulfonic acid Potassium oleate Triethanolamine soap of oleic acid Oleic acid Monoethylether of diethyleneglycol Diphenylamine- Example Preferred pro- Ranges of proportions portions Percent Mineral oil Sodium salt of mineral oil sulionic acid. Potassium oleate. i Triethanolamine soap of oleic acid. Oleic acid Monobutylether of diethyleneglycol-.. Resorcinol In practical use triethanolamine soap of oleic acid has proved to be very satisfactory, but the corresponding monoand di ethanolamine soaps soap for the triethanol amine soap, but its strong odor may prove an objection to some extent in commercial use.

In preparing the composition when utilizing a solvent, for example monoethylether or butylether of diethylene glycol, asin Examples 1 and 2 it is preferable to' dissolve the potassium soap of oleic acid (potassium oleate) in the solvent before mixing the ingredients together. The

An objection against the use of the solvents used should be water free or substantial- 1y water free, and the remaining ingredients likewise should also be substantially water free at the time the composition is made, if a clear product is to be prepared. Heat may be employed to bring the ingredients into solution.

Fabrics, yarn, threads and filaments which have been coated or impregnated with the composition of the present invention, either before or during the making of the fabric or other articles, may be passed into the dye bath or brought into contact with a dyeing liquid without preliminary hot soaping, scouring or similar treatment, to remove the winding oil composition or oil part thereof. The oil coating or impregnating of the fabric, yarn, threads, or filaments, onsuch direct entry of the oiled or lubricated material into a neutral or alkaline dye bath does not de-emulsify or break out as an oily liquid even when the dye bath contains inorganic salts added for the sake of better exhaustion of the dye bath. Examples of such inorganic salts are sodium chloride and sodium sulphate. Thus the oil or components thereof does not float on the top of the dye bath or prevent or decrease the dye absorption when the dye is in contact with the fabric, yarn or filament. The invention, therefore, al: 3 contemplates the dyeing of the fabric, yarn or filament without previous removal or substantial removal therefrom of the winding or coning oil composition by scouring,

In treating yarns, threads or filaments which weaken when wetted out, such as yarns, threads, or filaments of certain artificial materials, it is desirable that they be treated in the dry state with the composition also substantially free from water. Otherwise, the composition may be applied to the material to be treated while it is more or less in a wet condition and the composition applied to the material in this condition may or may not contain considerable water content. It is also within my invention to apply the composition substantially free of water to a substantially dry fabric, yarn, thread or filament for lubricating and protecting them during various operations to which they may be subjected in the textile industry, for example, weaving, knitting, braiding, winding or coning of threads or filaments.

Using an amine soap and alkali metal soap together in the composition as more fully set forth in Examples 1 and 2 above, has been found in practice to result in a composition of the character described with excellent properties as regards lubrication and protection, solubility or emulsifying power, stability, nonimpairment of the dyeing process, appearance and odor of the product, elimination of washing or scouring due to the rapid emulsification of the oil with water or salts containing dye bath, prevention of adhesion of wound fibre or yarn, moisture proofing, and general applicability for the purposes intended.

The compositions described herein are usually employed between the time the fibre is formed, for example fibres of viscose silk, and the time the final product, such as woven fabric or knitted goods or other article, is finished.

The terms lubricating, "lubrication fi or lubricating power, used herein are used to describe the property of the composition or other material which protects the yarn threads or filaments by decreasing the friction between themganic base soaps, and a solvent for the soaps, and

thereafter without prior substantial removal of said composition from the said materials, dyeing the said materials.

2. A process for treating natural and artificial threads, filaments, and the like which comprises applying to the said materials a composition including a mineral oil, a mineral oil sulphonate, alkali metal and organic base soaps, and a solvent for the said soaps oi the class consisting of monoethylether of diethyleneglycol and monobutylether of diethyleneglycol, and thereafter dyeing the said materials without prior substantial removal of the composition from the said materials.

3. A process according to claim 1, in which the said composition further includes oleic acid and an antioxidizing agent.

4. A process for treating natural and artificial threads, filaments, and the like which comprises applying to the said materials a compositionineluding a mineral oil, a mineral oil sulphonate, an alkali metal and triethanolamine soap' of oleic acidin such proportion that a slight excess of free oleic acid is maintained, a solvent for the said soaps, and thereafter dyeing the said materials without prior substantial removal of the compo-.- sition from the materials.

5. A process for treating natural and artificial threads, filaments, and the like which comprises applying to the said materials a composition including 40 to mineral oil, 5 to 14% mineral oil sulphonate, 5 to.20% potassium oleate, 4 to 30% triethanolamine soap of oleic acid, 3 .to 10% monoethylether of diethyleneglycol, and thereafter dyeing the said materials without prior substantial removal of the composition from the materials;

6. A process for treating natural and artificial threads, filaments, and the like which comprises applying to the said materials a composition including 4.0 to 75% mineral oil, 5 to 12% mineral oil sulphonate, 5 to 20% potassium oleate, 4 to 30% triethanolamine soap of oleic acid, 3 to 10% monobutylether of diethyleneglycol, and thereafter dyeing the said materials without prior substantial removal of the composition from the materials.

7. A process according to claim 5, in which the said composition contains 0.1 to 4% free iso 

